Lucas Panzica talks about the latest developments in the NIL space in the state of Tennessee, and how the Vols are now in a standoff with the SEC over the new state law.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00There is a good old-fashioned standoff happening right now between the SEC and the University of
00:05Tennessee and it all has to do with the new state law in the state of Tennessee and we've got a lot
00:11to tell you about it coming up next. Hey Lucas Panzeke here from 104.5 The Zone and A to Z Sports
00:19so in case you missed it on May 1st 2025 a new state law was put into action in the state of
00:26Tennessee that states any university within the state's limits does not have to acquiesce to NCAA
00:33rules when it comes to paying its student athletes. Now this is particularly relevant because at any
00:40week now the house settlement will be approved which will effectively bring revenue sharing
00:45into college sports. That means that there will be a cap on what universities can spend on its
00:51student athletes and there will still be NIL but that that can be regulated by the NCAA.
00:57This Tennessee state law states that any schools within the state don't have to abide by those
01:02regulations. Now reportedly according to Ross Dellinger of Yahoo Sports, Adam Sparks of Knox News
01:08has done a lot of reporting on this as well. Power conferences are coming together and circulating
01:13a loyalty document that they are demanding every member institution sign that essentially states
01:19that they will acquiesce to whatever NCAA rules come out of this house settlement despite whatever
01:26local state laws might say. Now Tennessee has put out a statement saying that they are going to be
01:31compliant with these rules and obviously there's not any real threat right now of the SEC booting
01:37Tennessee from the conference. That feels like an insane thing to even say but that is a part of this.
01:42There is this threat potentially of expulsion from a conference if these member institutions
01:48decide not to sign this document. At least that's what's being reported. So here you go. You've got
01:54Tennessee backed by state law. You've got the SEC saying we need you to be able to play on a level
02:00playing field as everybody else and you understand Tennessee's hesitation to blindly sign up for whatever
02:06NCAA rules could follow in the house settlement. There are all sorts of complications with this and
02:12honestly in this current state of college athletics as long as there's not a collective bargaining
02:17agreement among current players there are going to be lawsuits every single year. There are going to
02:23be antitrust violations. The NCAA is going to continue to run over speed bumps as they try to
02:30regulate all of these power conferences and student athletes in terms of what kind of money that they are
02:36making. I do know one thing at every step in this new era of college athletics since NIL came into play
02:42Tennessee has been right there front and center whether it was using that to their advantage to
02:47get out of paying Jeremy Pruitt his buyout whether it was going directly to war with the NCAA to keep
02:53Nico Iamaljava eligible or right now with state law saying that Tennessee doesn't have to follow the
03:00rules that everybody else will have to follow but the SEC and other power conferences are standing firm
03:05saying yes you do. As is always the case in this day and age the next few weeks the next developments
03:12of this process will be fascinating in this climate of college athletics but the University of Tennessee
03:18is trying to bend the rules to their advantage right now and given the current climate I don't know how you
03:23can blame them.